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LIBRARY 


OF  THE 


UNIVERSITY  Of  NORTH  (AROTINA, 

Endowed  by  the  Dialectic  and   Philanthropic  Societies. 

Call  No.  C'B  -      'P  'S  W 


/  '^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


ill 

00032690963 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTIO 


IHIS  TITLE  HAS  BEEN  MICROFILMEI 


Form  No.  A  365 


MEMORIAL 


or    THE    LIFE    OF 


.  |ol]uston  lettigreto, 


BPJG.  m.  OF  THE  COPEDERATE  STATES  ARM, 


^sArnvc.   H:DE!:cTI^■3^   TI^:ESGOT 


CHARLESTON  : 

JOHN   RUSSELL, 

1870. 


EVANS     &     COGSWELL,     PRINTERS, 
No.  3  Broad  street,  Charleston,  S.  C. 


MEMORIAL 


The  great  civil  war  in  this  country  has  ended  by  the 
total  defeat  of  one  of  the  parties  to  the  issue.  Its 
causes  and  its  consequences  stand  for  judgment  before 
impartial  history ;  and  it  is  not  in  this  generation  of 
victors  and  vanquished  that  we  can  reasonably  expect 
to  find  an  unexaggerated  statement  of  its  fortunes — a 
temperate  appreciation  of  the  influences  which  produced 
it — or  a  dispassionate  estimate  of  the  results  it  has  ac- 
complished. Time  alone — time  made  up  oftenest,  both 
for  nations  and  for  men,  of 

"  Those  slow,  sad  hours  which  bring  us  all  things  ill, 
And  all  good  things  from  evil," 

can  explain  not  only  men  to  each  other,  but  men  and  their 
actions  to  themselves.  We  are  always  working  either 
better  or  worse  than  we  can  know ;  and  whether  by 
victory  or  defeat,  we  are  always  achieving  or  sacrificing 
ends  that  we  never  purposed.  But  there  is  a  value  in 
such  a  conflict  beside  if  not  beyond  the  value  of  the  prin- 
ciples at  stake.  The  training  of  life  has  upon  character 
the  same  influence  which  the   training  of  mathematics 


Memorial  of 


has  upon  intellect,  and  its  worth  is  derived  not  from 
what  it  teaches,  but  from  Avhat  it  forms.  Men  may  dif- 
fer about  the  conflicting  theories  of  the  Constitution 
which  created  the  parties  to  the  contest;  men  ma}^  dis- 
agree about  those  great  national  interests,  which,  partly 
concealed  and  partly  evident,  lay  at  the  foundation  of 
the  bitter  difference  ;  men  may  rate,  with  very  varying 
degree^  of  praise  or  censure,  the  technical  merits  of  Lee 
or  Grant,  of  Sherman  or  Johnston.  But  men  never  will 
mistake  purity  of  purpose,  nobleness  of  deed,  self-sacri- 
ficing lives,  or  heroic  deaths,  be  they  spent  on  one  side 
or  the  other.  And  the  time  will  surely  come  when  all 
men  will  see  and  feel,  as  some  men  on  both  sides  see 
and  feel  now,  that  upon  such  an  issue  it  was  the  duty 
of  true  men  to  differ;  when  the  spirit  in  which  the 
events  of  this  war  will  be  reviewed  will  be  the  same 
manly  and  generous  spirit  which,  in  a  conflict  between 
those  of  our  own  blood,  and  from  whom  we  learned  the 
contending  principles  for  which  we  fought,  dictated  this 
noble  language  from  Sir  William  Waller,  the  Parlia- 
mentary general,  to  his  old  friend  Sir  Ealph  Hopton, 
the  lloyalist  commander:   "My  affections  to  you  are  so 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew. 


unchangeable  that  hostility  itself  cannot  violate  my 
friendship  to  yoiii-  person  ;  but  1  must  be  true  to  the 
cause  wherein  I  serve.  The  great  Goil,  who  is  the 
searcher  of  my  heart,  knows  with  what  reluctance  I 
go  upon  this  service,  and  with  what  perfect  hatred  I 
look  upon  a  war  without  an  enemy.  The  God  of  Peace, 
in  his  good  time,  send  us  peace,  and  in  the  meantime  fit 
us  to  receive  it.  We  are  both  on  the  stage,  and  we 
must  act  the  parts  that  are  assigned  us  in  this  tragedy. 
Let  us  do  it  in  a  way  of  honor,  and  without  personal  ani- 
mosities." 

After  these  words  .were  written  how  long  and  fierce 
was  the  contest ;  how  hot,  and  wild,  and  wicked  were 
the  passions  and  ambitions  of  men  who  called  tliem- 
selves  countrymen  ;  how  complete  and  unforeseen  was 

the  result. 

The  royalist  who,  to  borrow  Macaulay's  picturesque 
description,  saw  his  eldest  son  fiiU  at  Naseby  or  Mars- 
ton  Moor,  who  stole  by  night  to  revisit  liis  old  manor 
house  which  had  been  converted  into  barracks  and 
desecrated  by  a  Eoundhead  garrison,  whose  silver  had 
been  melted  to  raise  a  regiment  among  his  tenants,  and 


Memorial  of 


who,  even  after  the  war,  was  thankful  to  recover  his 
wasted  property  by  paying  a  large  iine  to  Mr.  Speaker 
Lenthall,  thought  and  spoke  very  much  as  a  South 
Carolina  planter  would  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  of  General  Saxton's  administration  of 
the  Sea  Islands,  or  General  Sherman's  march  through 
the  State.  The  women  of  that  day  mourned  their 
dead,  and  shrunk  with  shuddering  from  those  whose 
garments  smelt  of  the  blood  of  their  kindred.  Eev- 
erend  priests,  who  had  prayed  fervently  and  prophesied 
boldly,  put  their  hands  upon  their  mouths  and  bowed 
in  perplexed  humility  when  they  learned  that  the  ways 
of  God  were  indeed  past  finding  out.  Bad  men  rose 
and  ruled;  impatient  spirits  sought  relief  in  exile,  and 
desponding  ones  sat  sad  and  silent  in  the  midst  of 
darkness  which  could  be  felt.  But  how  does  the  history 
of  that  cruel  strife  read  now?  The  blood  that  was 
poured  out  like  water  has  sunk  into  the  ground;  the 
tears  that  were  shed  have  dried  up  like  dew;  the 
personal  hatreds  and  jealousies  are  at  rest  in  ancient 
graves,  and  all  that  was  brave  and  pure,  and  true  in 
the  words   and    deeds  of   either  of  the  great  factions 


J.  Johnston  Pettigreiv. 


lives  and  glows  to-day  in  the  history  of  England. 
Cromwell  and  Falkland,  Hampden  and  Clarendon  stand 
to-day  in  monumental  marble,  in  the  great  Palace  of 
Westminster,  to  teach  coming  generations  what  have 
been  the  courage,  the  patriotism,  the  wisdom  of 
English  men. 

While,  therefore,  we  who  are  the  vanquished  in  this 
battle  must  of  necessity  leave  to  a  calmer  and  wiser 
posterity  to  judge  of  the  intrinsic  worth  of  that  strug- 
gle, as  it  bears  upon  the  principles  of  constitutional 
liberty,  and  as  it  must  aifect  the  future  history  of  the 
American  people,  there  is  one  duty  not  only  possible 
but  imperative;  a  duty  which  we  owe  alike  to  the 
Uving  and  to  the  dead;  and  that  is  the  preservation 
in  perpetual  and  tender  remembrance  of  the  lives  of 
those  who,  to  use  a  phrase  scarcely  too  sacred  for  so 
unselfish  a  sacrifice,  died  in  the  hope  that  we  might 
live. 

Especially  is  this  our  duty,  because  in  the  South  a 
choice  between  the  parties  and  principles  at  issue  was 
scarcely  possible.  From  causes  which  it  is  exceedingly 
interesting  to  trace,  but  w^hich  I  cannot  now  develop, 


the  feeling  of  State  loyalty  had  acquired  throughout 
the  South  an  almost  ftmatie  intensity — particularly  in 
the  old  Colonial  States  did  this  devotion  to  the  State 
assume  that  blended  character  of  affection  and  duty 
which  gives  in  the  old  world  such  a  chivalrous  coloring 
to  loyalty  to  the  Crown.  The  existence  of  large  hered- 
itary estates,  the  transmission  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration of  social  and  political  consideration,  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery,  creating  of  the  whole  white  race  a 
privileged  class,  through  whom  the  pride  and  power  of 
its  highest  representatives  were  naturally  diffused,  ail 
contributed  to  give  a  peculiarly  personal  and  family 
feeling  to  the  ordinary  relation  of  citizen  to  the  Com- 
monwealth. Federal  honors  were  undervalued  and  even 
Federal  power  was  underrated,  except  as  they  were 
reflected  back  from  the  interests  and  prejudices  of  the 
State.  When,  therefore,  by  the  formal  and  constitu- 
tional act  of  the  States,  secession  from  the  Federal 
Government  was  declared  in  1860  and  1861,  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  any  one,  not  familiar  with  the  habits  and 
thoughts  of  the  South,  to  understand  how  completely 
the  question  of  duty  was  settled  for   Southern  men. 


Shrewd,  practical  men  who  had  no  faith  in  the  result, 
old  and  eminent  men  who  had  grown  gray  in  service 
under  the  national  flag,  liad  their  doubts  and  their  mis- 
givings; but  there  was  no  hesitation  as  to  what  they 
were  to  do.  Especially  to  that  great  body  of  men  just 
coming  into  manhood,  who  were  preparing  to  take 
their  places  as  the  thinkers  and  actors  of  the  next  gen- 
eration, was  this  call  of  the  State  an  imperative  sum- 
mons. The  fathers  and  mothers  who  had  reared  them, 
the  society  whose  traditions  gave  both  refinement  and 
assurance  to  their  young  ambition,  the  colleges  in  which 
the  creed  of  Mr.  Calhoun  w^as  the  text-book  of  their 
political  studies,  the  friends  w^ith  whom  they  planned 
their  future,  the  very  land  they  loved,  dear  to  them  as 
thoughtless  boys,  dearer  to  them  as  thoughtful  men, 
were  all  impersonate  living,  speaking,  commanding  in 
the  State  of  which  they  were  children.  ^N'ever  in  the 
history  of  the  world  has  there  been  a  nobler  response 
to  a  more  thoroughly  recognized  duty;  nowhere  any- 
thing more  truly  glorious  than  this  outburst  of  the 
5'outh  and  manhood  of  the  South.  And  now  that  the 
end  has  come,  and  we  have  seen  it,  it  seems  to  me,  that 


10 


Memorial  of 


to  a  man  of  humanity,  I  care  not  in  what  section  hi8 
sympathies  may  have  been  nurtured,  there  never  has 
been  a  sadder  or  sublimer  spectacle  than  these  earnest 
and  devoted  men,  their  young  and  vigorous  cohimns 
marching  through  Eichmond  to  the  Potomac,  like  the 
combatants  of  ancient  Eome,  beneath  the  imperial 
throne  in  the  amphitheatre,  and  exclaiming  with  ui^lift- 
ed  arms,  "  moraturi  te  salutaHif^  ' 

And  thus  it  happened  that  the  veiy  flower  of  our  youth 
were  mowed  down  by  the  reaper,  whose  name  is  Death, 
in  the  rich  harvest  fields  which  human  passion  and  civil 
strife  hfid  M  last  ripened  under  the  peaceful  skies  and  on 
the  unstained  soil  of  the  new  Republic.  For  there  was 
not  a  community  in  the  South  from  which  the  younger 
men  of  mark,  the  men  whom  their  people  expected 
to  take  the  places  and  sustain  the  characters  of  the 
fathers,  did  not  hasten  to  take  up  the  heavy  burden 
of  their  responsibility.  And  if  in  ordinary  times  it  is 
one  of  the  saddest  of  human  experiences  to  see  the 
sudden  destruction  of  great  gifts,  the  extinction  of  fair 
promises,  the  uncompleted  and  fragmentary  achieve- 
ment of  useful  and   honorable  lives,  with  what  bitter 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  11 


regret  must  we  not  review  that  long  list  of  the  dead, 
whose  virtues,  whose  genius  and  whose  youth  we  sacri- 
ficed in  vain.  To  the  memory  of  these  men  I  think  we 
owe  a  peculiarly  tender  care.  They  went  to  death  at 
our  bidding,  and  the  simple  and  heroic  language  of  one, 
not  the  least  among  them,  spoke  the  spirit  of  them  all. 
"Tell  the  Governor,"  said  he,  as  he  was  dying,  "that  if 
1  am  to  die  now,  I  g^ive  my  life  cheerfully  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  South  Carolina." 

"Their  leaf  has  perished  in  the  green, 
And  while  we  breathe  beneath  the  sun, 
The  world,  which  credits  what  is  done, 
Is  cold  to  all  that  might  have  been," 

Of  the  great  men  of  this  civil  war  history  will  take 
care.  The  issues  were  too  high,  the  struggle  too 
famous,  the  consequences  too  vast  for  them  to  be  for- 
gotten. But  as  for  these  of  whom  I  speak,  if  the  State 
is  indeed  the  mother  whom  they  so  fondly  loved,  she 
will  never  forget  them.  She  will  speak  of  them  in  a 
whisper,  if  it  must  be,  but  in  tones  of  love  that  will 
live  through  all  these  dreary  days.  From  among  the 
children   who  survive  to  her,  her  heart  will  yearn  for- 


ever  towards  the  early  lost.  The  noble  enthusiasm  of 
their  youth,  the  vigorous  promise  of  their  manhood, 
their  imperfect  and  unrecorded  achievement,  the  pity 
of  their  deaths  will  so  consecrate  their  memories  that, 
be  the  revolutions  of  laws  and  institutions,  be  the 
changes  of  customs  and  fortunes  what  they  maj',  the 
South  will,  living,  cherish  with  a  holier  and  stronger 
love,  and  dying,  if  die  she  must,  will  murmur  with  her 
latest  breath  the  names  of  "The  Confederate  Dead." 

Of  the  class  of  men  to  whom  I  have  specially  referred, 
I  do  not  think  there  can  be  found  a  worthier  represen- 
tative than  the  subject  of  this  memoir.  And  I  can  best 
justify  my  opinion  by  telling  the  tale  of  his  life  dimply, 
briefly,  I  wish  I  could  add  nobly,  as  it  really  was. 

James  Johnston  Pettigrew  was  born  at  Lake  Scup- 
pernong,  Tyrrell  County,  North  Carolina,  on  the  4th 
July,  1828,  and  was  the  son  of  Hon.Ebenezer  Pettigrew 
and  Ann  Shepherd,  his  Avife.  The  fiimily  from  which 
he  sprang,  was  remotely  of  French  origin,  but  at  a  very 
early  period,  branches  Avhich  recognized  their  connec- 
tion, settled  both  in  Scotland  and  Ireland.     James  Pet- 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  13 


tigrevv,  a  descendant  of  the  Irish  branch,  and  who  was 
an  officer  in  King  William's  army,  at  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne,  having  received  a  grant  of  lands  from  the  Crown 
established  a  family-  at  Crilly  House,  near  Aughnarcloy, 
in  Tj'rone  Count}^,  which  enjoj^ed  local  consideration, 
and  the  younger  members  of  which  seem  chiefly  to  have 
entered  the  inilitar}-  and  naval  service,  and  in  some  in- 
stances, to  have  achieved  both  rank  and  reputation.  One 
of  his  younger  sons,  James,  who  was  being  prepared  for 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  married  early,  and  having  had 
apparently  some  unpleasant  differences  with  his  family 
emigrated  to  America  about  1740.  He  settled  origi- 
nally in  Pennsylvania,  then  moved  to  Yirginia,  thence 
to  North  Carolina,  and  finally  after  these  many  removes, 
made  his  home  in  Abbeville,  South  Carolina,  about 
1768,  where  he  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  founded 
the  family  of  which  the  late  Hon.  James  L.  Petigru  was 
the  well  known  and  distinguished  representative.  When 
he  removed  from  North  Carolina,  he  left  behind  him  his 
third  son,  Charles  Pettigrew,  who  had  been  born  in 
Pennsylvania,  in  1743.  This  gentleman  was  educated 
in  part,  by  the  Eev.  ]\Ir.  Waddle,  Wirt's  famous  "  Blind 


14  Memorial  of 


Preacher;"  and  ia  1773,  was  made  Master  of  the  Public 
School  at  Edenton,  by  Governor  Martin.  In  1775,  he 
went  to  England  to  be  admitted  to  holy  orders,  and  was 
ordained  by  his  Diocesan,  the  Bishop  of  London.  Ee- 
tiirning  immediately  to  Xorth  Carolina,  his  labors  w^ere 
devoted  to  his  work  in  that  portion  of  the  State  lying 
north  and  south  of  Albemarle  Sound,  and  he  was  for 
many  years  the  Eector  of  the  church  in  Edenton.  His 
ability  and  virtues  seem  to  have  exerted  a  most  bene- 
ficial influence  upon  his  times.  The  Episcopal  Church 
had  at  that  period  scarcely  an  existence  in  IS'orth  Caro- 
lina, and  consisted  of  only  a  few  parishes,  almost  too 
remote  from  each  other  for  Christian  communion  or 
ecclesiastical  organization.  Mr.  Pettigrew  appears  from 
all  the  accounts,  to  have  been  a  man  of  sincere  and 
gentle  piety,  which  sought  rather  for  those  points  of 
sympathy  which  unite  all  Christians,  than  those  differ- 
ences of  opinion  which  divide  so  many  churches.  While 
his  labors,  his  attainments  and  his  character  attracted 
the  regard  and  won  the  confidence  of  his  brethren  in 
the  ministry,  the  sweetness  of  his  disposition  and  the 
spirit  of  charity  which  in  him  believed  no  evil  and  hoped 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  15 


all  things,  rendered  him  dear  to  many  devout  people 
who  did  not  worship  at  the  same  altar ;  and  he  was  not 
more  the  counsellor  of  his  own  church  than  the  friend 
and  adviser  of  denominations  not  included  within  the 
limits  of  his  ecclesiastical  authority.  That  there  was 
also  as  much  firmness  as  gentleness  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty,  and  that  his  sympathy  with  his  fellow 
countrj^men  in  their  trials,  was  not  confined  to  his 
priestly  relations,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  in 
1780,  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  accompany  the  militia  of  the 
State  who  were  called  into  service  for  a  Southern  cam- 
paign. 

He  married  Mary  Blount,  the  daughter  of  Col.  John 
Blount,  the  representative  of  one  of  the  oldest,  most 
influential  and  most  respected  families  of  the  colony, 
and  his  own  influence  was  naturally  extended  by  the 
large  and  powerful  connection  into  which  he  was  thus 
introduced.  Soon  after  the  Eevolution,  strenuous  efl"ort 
was  made  to  organize  more  eflSciently  the  Church  in 
North  Carolina,  and  in  1704  he  was  unanimously 
elected  b}^  the  convention  Bishop  of  the  new  diocese. 
The  history   of  the  Church  in   the  United  States  fur- 


16  JJemorial  of 


nishes  the  official  correspondence  between  himself  and 
Bishop  Wliite,  but  it  is  onlj^  necessary  to  state  here 
that  before  his  consecration,  which  was  delayed  by  his 
inability  to  reach  J^ew  York  in  time,  he  died,  leaving 
behind  him  a  gentle  and  blessed  memory. 

He  left  surviving  him  one  son,  Hon.  Ebenezer  Pet- 
tigrew,  who  married  Ann  Shepherd,  the  daughter  of  a 
very  distinguished  family  of  Xewbern,  and  seems  to 
have  inherited  much  of  his  father's  attractive  character 
and  useful  influence.  With  the  exception  of  a  short 
time,  during  which  he  represented  his  State  in  Con- 
gress, his  life  was  passed  in  the  cultivated  and  quiet 
retirement  of  his  paternal  estate  of  Bonarva,  in  Tyrrell 
County. 

Johnston  Pettigrew  was  the  third  son  of  this  marriage. 
The  earlier  portion  of  his  life  was  passed  with  his 
maternal  grandmother,  but  from  his  seventh  to  his 
fifteenth  year  his  time  was  spent  in  summer  at  the 
school  of  AY.  T.  Bingham,  in  Hillsboro',  and  his  winters 
at  home  or  with  his  mother's  relatives  in  Paleigh.  In 
May,  1843,  ho  entered  college  at  Chapel  Hill,  the  State 
University,  then  under  the  presidency  of  that  eminent 


J.  Johnston  Fettigrew.  17 

and  venerable  man,  Governor  Swain.  His  scholastic 
career  was  so  brilliant  as  to  have  become  a  colle2;e 
tradition ;  his  preeminence  not  only  in  the  usual  course 
of  study,  but  in  general  force  and  scope  of  intellect, 
was  universallj^  admitted,  and  when  he  graduated,  in 
1847,  not  only  were  those  who  had  superintended  his 
education  lavish  and  exultant  in  their  predictions  of 
his  future  eminence,  but  the  Press  of  the  State  vary 
generally  signalized  his  graduation  as  an  event  in  the 
history  of  the  college.  That  there  was  more  in  this 
universal  recognition  of  his  merit  than  the  partiality 
of  friendship,  may  be  concluded  from  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Polk,  then  President  of  the  United  States,  and  himself 
a  graduate  of  Chapel  Hill,  who  was  the  guest  of  the 
University  at  this  commencement,  and  accompanied  by 
Commodore  Maury,  tendered  to  Pettigrew,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  latter,  one  of  the  Assistant  Professor- 
ships in  the  National  Observatory  at  Washington ;  and 
from  his  journals  and  papers  relating  to  this  period  of 
his  life,  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  this  brilliant 
success.  Of  course  such  documents  Avould  have  no 
interest  for  the  world,  which  looks  only  at  results,  but 


18  Memorial  of 


they  show  how  great  was  the  superiority  of  his  general 
preparation,  how  keen,  persistent  and  vigorous  was  the 
ambition  which  stimulated  his  labors,  and  what  per- 
haps best  explains  his  influence  with  his  fellow-students, 
and  what  every  collegian  will  understand,  his  intense 
interest  in  what  I  may  call  college  politics,  his  eager 
and  animated  contest  for  society  honors — in  short,  his 
complete  absorption  in  that  mimic  public  life  which, 
especially  in  a  State  institution,  goes  so  far  not  only  to 
form  the  character  but  to  shape  the  fortunes  of  the 
rising  generations.  Knowing  him  as  I  did,  familiar 
with  many  of  the  hopes  and  some  of  the  plans  of  his 
after-life,  I.  have  found  a  peculiar  but  sad  interest  in  the 
traits  scattered  through  these  records,  written  with  all 
the  inconsequence,  the  frankness,  the  generosity,  the 
vanity  of  his  age,  and  showing  how  truly  the  boy  was 
father  of  the  man. 

In  1847,  having  thus  graduated  with  the  highest  dis- 
tinction, and  having  accepted  from  the  President  the 
position  which  he  had  so  honorably  won,  his  life  had 
fairly  opened,  and  with  prospects  for  the  future  brighter, 
clearer,  broader  than  fall  to  the  lot  of  most  men ;  a 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  19 


home  warm  with  paternal  affection,  refined  by  the  cul- 
ture and  elevated  by  the  character  of  its  inmates;  a 
large  and  influential  connection  who  were  proud  of  his 
promise  and  powerful  to  sustain  him  in  the  career  of 
honorable  ambition;  the  prestige  of  an  enviable  and 
singular  success  among  those  with  whom  he  had  com- 
menced and  with  whom  he  was  to  go  through  life; 
great  gifts  and  large  talents,  carefully  cherished  and 
highly  cultivated  ;  the  influences  of  the  past  and  the 
hopes  of  the  future  to  elevate  and  encourage  him. 
Only  nineteen  years  of  age,  his  place  in  the  Observ- 
atory gave  him  the  opportunity  for  reflection  and  left 
him  free  to  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  a  life  devoted  to 
scientific  achievement,  or  to  make  his  preparation  de- 
liberately for  a  more  exciting  theatre.  He  was  not 
long  choosing,  for  in  the  vigor  of  genius  he  was  not 
exempt  from  that  restlessness  which  is  its  almost  certain 
accompaniment  until  it  has  found  a  congenial  field  for 
its  work.  The  character  of  his  success  at  college,  and 
the  atmosphere  of  Washington  were  additional  stimu- 
lants to  that  ambition  which  finds  its  natural  sphere  of 
activitv  rather  in  the  conflict  with   men   than   in   the 


20  Memorial  of 


more  quiet  but  more  strenuous  struggle  with  thought. 
After  a  stay  of  only  a  few  months  at  the  Observatory, 
he  decided  upon  adopting  the  profession  of  the  law, 
and  communicated  his  decision  to  his  family  in  a  let- 
ter which  shows  that  his  choice  was  made  after  very 
deliberate  reflection.  He  accordingly  removed  to  Bal- 
timore, and  entered  upon  bis  legal  studies  in  the  office 
of  James  Mason  Campbell,  Esq.,  where,  however,  he  re- 
mained but  a  short  time,  as  he  accepted  an  invitation 
from  his  distinguished  relative,  Jas.  L.  Petigru,  of 
Charleston,  to  complete  his  preparation  for  the  bar  in 
his  office.  He  removed  to  Charleston  in  1848,  and  after 
his  admission  to  the  bar,  at  the  earnest  instance  of  very 
near  and  dear  friends,  who  wished  him  to  receive  all 
the  advantages  of  a  perfect  culture,  he  left  for  Europe. 
On  the  9th  January,  1850,  he  commenced  his  voyage, 
and  proceeding  directly  from  Liverpool  to  Berlin,  there 
devoted  two  years  to  conscientious  and  profound  study. 
At  the  close  of  his  term  of  study  he  travelled  through 
Germany,  Hungary,  Italy,  Spain,  Switzerland,  England 
and  Ireland,  and  returned  in  1852  to  Charleston,  and  his 
profession.     During  his  visit  to  Spain,  Mr.  Barrenger, 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  21 


then  United  States  Minister  at  Madrid,  offered  him  the 
position  of  Secretary  to  the  Legation,  a  selection  that 
there  can  be  no  reason  to  doubt,  would  have  been  con- 
firmed by  the  authorities  at  home.  It  was  a  post  of 
duty  peculiarly  adapted  to  his  tastes  and  qualifications. 
But  learning  that  the  gentleman  then  in  oflice  was,  for 
special  reasons,  very  anxious  to  retain  it,  and  that  he 
would  be  retained  if  he  himself  refused  the  appoint- 
ment, he  declined  it  with  a  delicate  generositj^,  as  rare 
as  it  was  honorable. 

Before  our  late  civil  war,  which,  notwithstanding  its 
present  apparently  ruinous  result,  has  matured  this 
country  more  rapidly  than  fifty  years  of  ordinary  life, 
I  do  not  think  that  any  young  American  of  large  intel- 
lect could  have  been  properlj^  educated  without  some 
experience  of  the  old  world.  I  do  not  refer  to  such 
education  as  one  picks  up  on  the  Boulevards  of  Paris, 
in  the  Thiergarten  of  Berlin,  in  the  carnival  at  Eome, 
or  even  in  that  much  shrewder  and  higher  school,  the 
clubs  of  London,  or  that  one  has  seen  the  old  masters 
at  Dresden,  or  witnessed  a  genuine  furore  at  Milan,  or 
a  bull  fight  at  Seville,  or  drank  pure  hock  or  unquestion- 


Memorial  of 


able  Burgundy.  I  do  not  think  even  these  things  with- 
out their  value,  for  no  one  can  have  failed  to  remark 
the  refining  effect  of  even  superficial  foreign  travel 
upon  very  ordinary  people.  Xor  do  I  mean  something 
higher  than  this,  hard  study  at  Heidelburg,  gradu- 
ation at  Oxford,  courses  of  science  at  Paris.  But  I  mean 
this,  which  many  I  am  sure  have  felt,  although  it  is 
difficult  to  express,  that  the  American  who  has  studied 
history  in  books,  never  understands  until  he  has  lived  in 
Europe  what  history  really  is.  He  never  comprehends 
where  in  the  point  of  human  progress  he  stands  in 
America,  until  he  looks  back  upon  it  from  Europe.  It 
is  not  that  he  is  among  strange  institutions  and  peculiar 
habits,  different  costumes  and  unfamiliar  languages,  that 
he  sees  cathedrals  like  Westminster,  or  palaces  like  the 
Tuileries.  It  is  the  atmosphere,  the  moral  atmosphere, 
saturated  with  the  crimes  and  with  the  virtues,  the 
hopes  and  the  failures  of  thousands  of  years  of  human 
civilization.  There  is  a  vitality,  a  reality  in  the  past 
entirely  new  to  his  experience.  He  feels  that  the  fu- 
ture, which  to  the  genuine  American  looks  so  free,  is,  in 
fact,  bound   irrevocably  to  that  humanity    which    has 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew,  23 


suffered  and  struggled  and  failed  and  achieved  through 
so  many  centuries,  and  that  under  conditions,  which 
apparently  new,  are  but  variations  of  those  essential 
conditions  under  which  the  social  and  political  life  of 
the  world  has  grown  for  ages,  we  are  acting  our  part  in 
that  one  solemn  and  continuous  drama  the  plot  of  which 
is  above  the  comprehension,  as  it  is  beyond  the  alte- 
ration of  the  greatest  actor  in  its  varied  scenes.  And  1 
have  never  known  one  upon  whom  this  impression  was 
made,  who  did  not  come  home  a  wiser  and  better  man. 
Johnston  Pettigrew  had  the  intellect,  the  training,  the 
moral  nature  to  learn  this  lesson,  and  he  grew  in  sta- 
ture visibly  during  his  residence  abroad.  His  journal 
and  letters  which  are  not  finished  enough  for  publica- 
tion, exhibit  in  a  comparatively  immature  form  the 
same  powers  of  observation  and  reflection  to  which  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  refer  hereafter,  in  noticing  his 
second  voyage  to  Europe. 

It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  say  here  that  he  came  home 
with  that  intense  consciousness  of  the  sacred  unity  of 
the  whole  history  of  humanity,  which,  while  it  gave 
larger  worth   and   dignity   to  the  history  of  his   own 


24  Memorial  of 


country,  also  gave  to  his  study  of  the  history  of  other 
times  and  people  that  breadth  of  view  and  varied  inter- 
est Avhich  he  hoped  would  one  day  bear  no  unw^orthy 
fruit.  And  he  had  acquired  an  earnestness  of  purpose, 
which,  if  it  could  not  entn-ely  suppress  that  craving  for 
cotemporary  appreciation  which  is  perhaps  an  instinct 
rather  than  a  weakness,  had  at  least  taught  him  to  sub- 
stitute, for  the  desire  of  great  distinction,  the  honorable 
effort  for  great  achievment. 

In  his  return  to  the  bar,  in  1852,  he  enjoyed,  as 
he  had  done  through  life,  many  signal  advantages.  It 
is  true  that  he  was  a  stranger  in  a  society,  which, 
although  governed  by  very  generous  impulses  and 
ready  sympathies,  was  still  not  unnaturally  leavened  by 
the  spirit  of  family  connection  and  local  prejudice ; 
one  in  which  nearlj^  all  the  leading  interest  of  its  social 
and  industrial  life  were  represented  at  the  bar  by  young 
men  of  character  and  ability,  in  whose  fortunes  the 
community  were  personally  concerned;  and  the  city 
was  scarcely  large  enough  for  that  sort  of  professional 
success  which  is  entirely  independent  of  personal  con- 
nection.    But  this  disadvantage  was  more  than  com- 


J.  Johnston  Fettlgrew. 


25 


pensated  by  the  fact  that  he  was  at  once  associated  in 
business  Avith    his  distinguished  relative  who  had  for 
many  years  stood  without  competition  at  the  head  of 
the    profession    in    Carolina.      Not  only  was   he   thus 
spared  the  difficult  and  wearisome  labor  of  making  a 
practice,  but  the   character  and  extent  of  the  engage- 
ments of  the  legal  firm  of  which  he  was  a  member  gave 
him  at  once  that  opportunity,  on  important  and  inter- 
esting cases,  of  exhibiting  his  ability,  for  which,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  events,  he  must  have  waited  a  long 
time.     And  to  his  honor  be  it  said,  that  the  great  lawyer 
who  had  thus  adopted  him  never  ceased  to  manifest  the 
most  affectionate  interest  in  his  success;  for  it  is  well 
known  to  his  friends  that  that  large-hearted  man,  whose 
life  had  not  ^QQnw  without  its  sorrows  and  disappoint- 
ments, had  found  in  the  young  kinsman,  who  shared 
his  blood  and  name,  the  fulfilment  of  one  of  his  proudest 
hopes,  and  looked  upon  him  as  the  inheritor,  in  another 
generation,  of  that  splendid  reputation  which  his  own 
virtues  and  labors  had  established. 

It  is,  perhaps,  impossible  to  say  how  far  Johnston 
Pettio-rew  would  have  fulfilled  that  hope.     That  he  an- 


26  Memorial  of 


ticipated  such  achievement  I  do  not  think.  Ilis  cul- 
ture was  too  varied,  his  appreciation  of  other  sorts  of 
distinction  too  high,  he  was  too  free  from  the  pecuniary 
necessity  of  professional  success  to  have  given  to  the 
law  that  patient  and  exclusive  devotion,  the  absence  of 
Avhich  no  genius  can  supply.  He  practiced  law  because 
he  found  in  it  the  most  congenial  sphere  for  a  mental 
activity  that  could  not  rest  satisfied  with  merely  ac- 
quiring, and  because  in  this  country  its  training  and  its 
influence  were  the  almost  necessary  preparations  for 
political  life.  His  wonderful,  almost  unrivalled,  quick- 
ness of  perception  and  acquisition,  his  habits  of  severe 
and  concentrated  study,  and  above  all  his  faculty,  so  to 
speak,  of  putting  himself  in  sympathy  with  the  subject 
of  his  studies,  with  the  power  of  impressing  clearly  and 
strongly  what  he  knew,  enabled  him  to  sustain  the 
reputation  which  had  been  given  him,  and  I  think  the 
profession  recognized  in  him,  during  their  short  expe- 
rience, the  capacity  of  a  very  high  intellect.  His  con- 
nection with  the  bar  lasted  only  four  or  five  years.  His 
position  scarcely  placed  upon  him  the  full  responsibility 
of  professional  life,  and  he  was  never  tested  in  that  de- 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  27 


partment  of  practice  which  is  the  basis  of  professional 
reputation  and  consists  not  so  much  in  brilliant  argu- 
ments and  recondite  learning  as  in  the  practical  sense 
which  in  the  quiet  of  the  office  and  the  privacy  of  con- 
sultation directs  and  controls  the  business  interests  of 
the  community.  \Yhile,  therefore,  practicing  at  the 
bar  he  was  preparing  for  that  public  life  which  was  the 
real  object  of  his  aspirations.  At  that  time  there  can 
be  hardly  said  to  have  been  any  real  political  life  in 
South  Carolina.  Mr.  Calhoun  had  died  in  1850.  For 
many  years  before  his  death  his  will  had  been  the  law 
in  the  State  and  his  opinions  were  received  as  decisions 
which  governed  her  action.  His  isolation  from  either 
of  the  great  living  parties  of  the  country,  the  State 
faithfully  represented,  while  his  long  and  undisputed 
autocracy,  by  diminishing  all  other  men,  had  left  the 
State  absolutely  without  leaders  in  whom  they  confided. 
The  State  was  Democratic,  of  course,  but  it  had  no  active 
association  with  the  Democratic  party.  It  took  no 
share  in  the  party  counsels,  and  supported  its  nomina- 
tions steadily  and  consistently,  but  without  sympathy. 
The  political    divisions  in    the    State  were,  therefore. 


28  Memorial  of 


almost  entirely  personal,  and  as  such  differences  never 
arouse  the  popular  feeling,  active  political  life  was  left 
very  much  to  the  friends  of  a  few  distinguished  men 
Avho  were  supposed  to  hold  the  true  faith  and  were 
allowed  to  distribute  the  political  honors  among  them, 
selves.  But  in  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1856,  a 
party  in  the  State  headed  by  Colonel  Orr,  who  at  thai 
time  represented  the  mountain  district  in  Congress, 
demanded  that  the  State  should  manifest  a  more  active 
sympathy  with  the  Democratic  party,  and.  abandoning 
the  policy  of  isolation  which  they  believed  due  to  the 
accidents  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  position  and  unwise  in  itself, 
should  participate  in  the  convention  which  made  the 
presidential  nominations.  It  would  be  useless,  and  now 
perhaps  not  even  interesting,  to  review  this  old  contro- 
versy. It  is  enough  for  my  present  purpose  to  say  that 
Johnston  Pettigrew  agreed  with  their  opinions  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  political  movement  in  Charles- 
ton which  resulted  in  a  convention  of  the  State  to  nomi- 
nate delegates  to  the  Cincinnati  Convention;  that  his 
course  was  acceptable  to  the  constituency  among  whom 
he  lived;  and  that  at  the  October  elections  of  1856  he 


J.  Johnston  Fettigrew.  29 


was  elected  one  of  the  representatives  to  the  Legisla- 
ture from  the  City  of  Cliarleston.  As  a  legislator  his 
career  was  brief  and  brilliant,  and  not  onlj'  brilliant 
but  useful  in  a  very  high  sense. 

I  am  not,  I  think,  given  to  exaggeration,  and  I  have 
had  sufficient  experience  of  life  on  a  wider  scale  to  be 
cured  of  that  extravagance  of  admiration  for  local  habits 
and  local  reputations  which  is  the  weakness  of  all  small 
and  isolated  communities.  South  Carolina  is  a  Yery 
small  and  not  a  very  important  part  of  the  civilized 
world,  and  it  would  be  very  ridiculous  to  compare  its 
Legislature  to  that  most  august  of  deliberative  assem- 
blies the  British  House  of  Commons.  But  it  is  never- 
theless true  that  in  the  Legislature  of  this  State  have 
been  preserved  with  singular  fidelity  some  of  the  most 
striking  features  of  the  Parliament  of  our  ancestors. 
The  reverence  for  the  forms  of  parliamentary  law,  the 
influence  belonging  to  that  silent  body  of  country  gen- 
tlemen, the  long  continuance  of  individual  representa- 
tives, the  weight  given  to  the  precedents  of  former  gen- 
erations, the  peculiar  respect  and  dignity  attached  to 
the  office  of  speaker,  the  antiquated   and    stately  cos- 


30  Memorial  of 


tnme  of  the  presiding  officers  of  both  branches  of  the 
General  Assemblj^,  the  unwritten  and  unbroken  law 
of  adjournment  so  that  the  parish  representatives 
should  be  on  their  estates  at  Christmas,  all  were 
traditions  of  the  habits  and  thoughts  of  our  Eng- 
lish blood.  In  every  other  State,  even  at  the  South, 
there  was  a  general  legislative  uniformity  and  con- 
formity to  that  worst  of  models,  the  United  States 
House  of  Eepresentatives.  But  here  an  unbroken  line 
of  speakers  from  the  colonial  days  of  Jonathan  Amory 
to  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  presided  over  a  political 
assembly  which  preserved  more  of  the  conservatism  of 
the  old  world  than  any  other  institution  on  this  conti- 
nent, except,  I  ought  to  add,  the  common  law  as  ad- 
ministered by  the  judiciary  of  the  same  State.  Estab- 
lished in  colonial  times,  when  the  parishes  really 
represented  all  the  wealth  and  all  the  population  of  the 
State,  the  parish  system,  with  its  intense  respect  for 
landed  property,  its  deference  to  personal  connection, 
its  genuine  love  of  culture  and  its  sensitive  obedience  to 
the  rules  of  good  breeding,  gave  a  character  to  the 
Legislature  which  it  never  entirly  lost.     The  represen- 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew,  31 


tatioii  sprang  from  it.  Session  after  session  the  same 
men,  the  natural  leaders  of  the  State,  the  men  who  rep- 
resented broad  acres  and  thousands  of  slaves,  the  men 
who  had  won  power  and  honor  by  professional  labor^ 
the  men  who,  in  less  conspicuous  walks  of  life,  had  made 
for  themselves  names  for  industry,  honesty  and  ability, 
met  to  make  the  laws  of  the  State;  and  as  years  went 
on  the  boys  from  the  college  (as  much  a  part  of  the 
State  as  the  Legislature)  who  filled  the  galleries,  and  to 
whom  the  debates  were  as  much  a  part  of  their  educa- 
tion as  their  recitations,  came  down  from  the  galleries 
to  fill  the  seats  in  the  House,  and  to  renew  and  perpet- 
uate hereditary  friendships.  A  member's  name  was  an 
indication  of  the  district  he  represented,  and  the  public 
life  of  the  State  was  developed  in  full  and  fitting  sym- 
pathy with  the  personal  affections,  the  traditional 
associations,  the  local  attachments  that  made  its  private 
life.  The  tone  and  temper  of  such  an  association  of 
men  could  not  but  be  elevated.  There  were  among 
them  men  of  difterent  conditions,  various  degrees 
of  culture,  of  very  diverse  habits  of  thought,  keen 
politicians,  and  very  strong   and    contrary   ambitions. 


But  above  all  they  were  gentlemen.  And  by  that  I 
mean  men  who,  by  the  universal  consent  of  the  society 
in  which  they  lived,  had  the  right  to  respect  and  did 
re?«pect  themselves  and  each  other.  And  they  were 
bound  together  by  that  unity  of  the  spirit  which  sprang 
from  a  simple  but  deep  and  unaffected  devotion  to  the 
State  whose  honor  and  whose  interests  were  entrusted 
to  their  keeping.  Their  sense  of  personal  responsibility 
not  only  gave  courtesy  and  dignity  to  their  manners, 
but  it  secured  that  spirit  of  manliness  and  fair  play 
which  is  the  surest  guarantee  against  the  injustice  of 
party;  and  I  think  I  can  say  with  truth  that  anything 
approaching  fraud  or  falsehood,  however  it  might  serve 
the  exigencies  of  party,  anything  like  meanness  or 
cowardice  would,  with  them,  have  destroyed,  beyond 
hope  of  redemption,  the  most  brilliant  reputation. 

Intellectually  they  were  not  above  the  average  of 
sensible  men,  but  they  represented  too  absolutely  the 
property  and  sentiment  of  the  State  to  make  any  grave 
mistake  as  to  its  interests.  They  possessed  an  un- 
bounded admiration  for  intellectual  supcriorit3\  and 
took  a  generous  pride  in  the  individual  reputation  of 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  33 

their  colleagues.  Thej  were  familiar  with  the  discus- 
sion of  many  grave  questions  by  very  distinguished  men ; 
and  although  in  the  main,  as  all  sensible  men  are,  very 
tolerant  of  mediocrity,  they  were  shrewd  and  cultivated 
critics  when  their  admiration  was  challenged.  They 
had  trained  a'nd  disciplined  many  men  whose  fame  as 
orators  and  statesmen  had  become  national,  and  with 
the  exception  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  I  do  not  know  a  great 
reputation  in  the  State,  the  foundation  of  which  was 
not  laid  broadly  and  solidly  in  the  Legislature.  It  was 
in  brief  a  body  of  whose  judgment  a  young  member 
might  well  feel  apprehensive,  of  whose  kind  and  gen- 
erous sympath}^  he  might  be  assured,  and  of  whose  de- 
liberate approval  he  would  have  everj^  reason  to  be 
proud. 

In  this  body  Johnston  Pettigrew  took  his  seat  as  one 
of  the  representatives  from  Charleston,  at  the  extra 
session  for  the  election  of  Presidential  electors  in  1856, 
and  at  the  regular  session  a  few  week  after  made  his 
maiden  speech.  A  very  strong  effort  had  been  made  at 
the  preceding  Legislature,  and  had  been  renewed  at 
this,  to  modify  the  judiciary  system  of  the  State.     No 


34  Memorial  of 


subject  could  have  excited  a  more  earnest  and  intelligent 
interest,  for  the  character  of  the  judiciary,  both  for  in- 
tegrity and  ability,  had  always  been  the  pride  of  the 
State.  A  bill  was  introduced  by  Nelson  Mitchell,  the 
Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  another  of  those 
whose  sun  has  gone  down  at  midday,  which  provided 
for  the  creation  of  a  separate  court  of  appeals.  There 
was  a  very  warm  difference  of  opinion  between  very 
able  men.  The  old  circuit  court  system  had  strong 
advocates.  It  was  familiar  to  the  people,  w^as  more 
economical,  had  in  the  course  of  its  existence  fur- 
nished some  very  eminent  judges,  and  was  much  more 
agreeable  to  the  country  bar  than  the  proposed  change. 
The  metropolitan  bar,  whose  standard  of  judicial  at- 
tainment was  higher,  and  who  were  seriously  incon- 
venienced by  the  delay  incident  to  the  existing  sys- 
tem, warmly  advocated  both  as  a  matter  of  efficiency 
and  convenience,  the  creation  of  an  independent  and  su- 
preme court  of  appeals.  The  discussion  was  sustained 
by  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  Ilouse,  aud 
at  its  close  Mr.  Pettigrew  addressed  the  speaker  in  sup- 
port of  the  bill.     The  speech  was  clear,  strong,  admi- 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  35 


rable  in  tone  and  temper,  and  above  all,  fresh.  While 
it  was  practical,  it  avoided  common  place.  The 
argument  rested  on  large  principles,  but  the  appli- 
cation was  direct  and  business-like,  and  it  was  col- 
ored by  those  scholarly  illustrations  in  which  the 
taste  of  the  House  took  special  pleasure.  When 
he  sat  down  his  introduction  to  the  public  life 
of  the  State  had  been  accomplished  with  signal 
success. 

At  the  ensuing  session  he  took  a  long  step  forwards, 
a  step  not  of  promise,  but  of  positive  progress  in  the 
achievement  of  recognized  and  influential  public  posi- 
tion. The  discussion  of  the  slavery  question  had 
been  during  the  last  few  years  assuming  in  the  poli- 
tics of  the  United  States  a  graver  and  angrier  char- 
acter. The  Abolition  party  had  ceased  to  be  a  small 
school  of  speculative  reformers,  and  had  become  a 
strong  party  of  political  agitators.  The  Mexican  war 
and  the  admission  of  Kansas  had  furnished  the  oppor- 
tunity of  making  the  constitutional  recognition  of 
slavery  a  question  of  direct  practical  importance,  and 
it  was  fast  becoming,  as  it  did  become,  a  very  few  years 


36  Memorial  of 


later,  the  essential  issue  of  the  great  political  contest  of 
the  Presidential  election. 

As  the  dispute  became  more  envenomed,  the  extreme 
men  on  either  side  became  more  violent,  and  the  theo- 
ries of  both  parties  were  pushed  more  resolutely  to 
their  logical  consequences,  regardless  of  the  great  his- 
torical fact  that  the  Constitution  had  been  adopted  and 
could  only  be  preserved  by  a  wise  compromise  of  these 
very  extremes.  At  the  South,  the  extreme  advocates 
of  slavery  abandoning  or  rather  going  beyond  the  old, 
and  I  think,  impregnable  position  that  domestic  slavery 
was  a  political  and  social  relation  between  the  two 
races,  recognized  by  the  Constitution  and  guaranteed 
by  that  instrument  so  long  as  any  one  of  the  States 
maintained  its  existence,  undertook  to  prove  the  intrin- 
sic righteousness  and  excellence  of  the  institution,  and 
demanded  as  a  perfectly  logical  consequence  from  their 
premises  that  the  constitutional  prohibition  of  the  slave 
trade  should  be  abrogated.  The  men  who  held  these 
views  represented  a  very  small  minority  even  in  South 
Carolina,  and  were  distinguished  rather  for  their  eccen- 
tric and   bold  speculativeness  of  opinion   than   for  any 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  37 

real  influence  upon  public  affairs.  But  in  1856,  Gover- 
nor Adams  gave  a  sudden  and  factitious  importance  to 
these  opinions  by  advocating  them  in  his  annual  mes- 
sage to  the  Legislature  of  South  Cai'olina.  The  subject 
was  referred  in  both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly 
to  special  committees,  with  leave  to  sit  during  the 
adjournment  and  report  at  the  next  session.  In  the 
committee  of  the  House,  Mr.  Pettigrew,  although  the 
youngest  member,  was  selected  by  the  minority  to  rep- 
resent their  opinions.  At  the  session  of  1857,  the  re- 
port was  made.  In  its  condemnation  of  the  views  and 
recommendations  of  the  governor  it  was  a  clear,  com- 
plete, eloquent  and  forcible  exposition  of  the  convictions 
of  three-fourths  of  the  slaveholders  of  the  South.  The 
report  is  too  well  known  and  attracted  too  much  atten- 
tion to  render  an  analysis  necessary.  The  complete- 
ness of  the  argument,  the  breadth  of  the  principles 
upon  which  it  rested,  its  full  and  exhausting  history  of 
all  the  legislation  of  other  nations  on  the  same  subject, 
the  curious  picture  of  the  social  consequences  of  the 
slave  trade  drawn  with  infinite  labor  and  ability  from  a 
study  of  the  old  statute  law  of  the  State,  made  this  re- 


38  Memorial  of 


port  a  document  of  permanent  interest  and  value.  The 
subject  is  one  which  it  is  scarcely  pleasant  or  profitable 
to  review.  I  will  venture  but  one  opinion,  and  that  is 
that  if  time  had  been  allowed  for  the  principles  which 
^vere  the  basis  of  that  report,  to  have  been  enforced 
and  illustrated,  to  have  been  applied  to  the  larger  con- 
sideration of  the  whole  question  in  controversy,  by  such 
men  as  Mitchell  and  Pettigrew  and  others,  who  being 
still  living  I  do  not  think  it  proper  to  mention,  and 
who  were  young  and  strong  enough  to  have  waited  for 
the  result  of  their  labor,  I  think  a  school  of  public 
opinion  would  have  been  formed  at  the  South  which 
^vould  have  steadily  widened  the  sphere  of  its  influence 
and  manifested  its  ability  to  deal  wisely  and  success- 
full}^  with  those  issues  which  have  just  reached  their 
bloody  solution.  But  be  that  as  it  may — at  the  close 
of  the  session  of  1857,  Johnston  Pettigrew  had  fairly 
reached  a  position  from  which  he  could  look  forw^ard 
with  confidence  to  an  open  career  of  honorable  and  dis- 
tinguished usefulness.  But  I  must  add  with  sorrow 
and  not  without  mortification  that  w^ith  this  session  his 
legislative  career   closed.     B}^  one  of  those  miserable 


J.  Johnston  Fettigrew.  39 


chances  which  results  from  the  unworthy  personal 
scramble  for  honors  and  office  which  the  legislative 
election  in  Charleston  has  more  than  once  become, 
he  was  defeated  in  the  October  elections  of  1858,  and 
thus  his  services  were  lost  to  the  State  at  the  very 
time  ihey  were  most  needed  and  would  have  been 
most  valuable.  He  was  disappointed,  naturally  enough, 
but  more  so  I  think  than  the  occasion  warranted  or 
what  was  due  to  his  own  character  ought  to  have 
permitted.  For  that  popular  confidence  which  secures 
stability  of  power,  requires  time  and  long  and  per- 
sistent achievement.  Ko  gifts  however  brilliant,  no 
purpose  however  pure,  will  obtain  it  without  patience 
of  spirit  and  tenacity  of  temper.  This  disappoint- 
ment, however,  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  carry 
out  a  purpose  which  he  had  long  cherished.  He 
had  felt,  early  in  life,  a  desire  for  military  service, 
and  when  a  student  at  Berlin  had  made  an  ineffec- 
tual effort  to  procure  admission  into  the  Prussian 
army.  The  Italian  war,  which  excited  his  warmest 
sympathies,  was  now  in  progress,  and  he  determined 
to   apply   for   a   staff   appointment   in    the    Sardinian 


40  Memorial  of 


army.     The  motive  of  his  conduct  I  can  best  describe 
in   his  own  words  : 

"It  was  on  the  night  of  the  -Ith  of  July,  1859,  that 
I  crossed  Mount  Cenis  on  the  wh}^  to  Turin.  Though 
the  precise  date  was  a  matter  of  accident,  its  associa- 
tions were  in  happy  unison  with  the  object  of  the  jour- 
ney and  the  sentiments  which  prompted  me.  It  was 
my  birthday,  but  far  more  it  was  the  day  that  ushered 
into  life  my  native  land — a  day  ever  memorable  in  the 
history  of  the  world — ^^not  so  much  because  it  had  added 
another  to  the  family  of  nations  as  because  it  had  an- 
nounced amid  the  crack  of  rifles  and  the  groans  of  ex- 
piring patriots,  the  great  principle  that  every  people 
has  an  inalienable  right  of  self-government  without  re- 
sponsibility to  aught  on  earth,  save  such  as  may  be  im- 
posed by  a  due  respect  for  the  opinions  of  mankind. 
Once  more  this  great  battle  wias  to  be  fought,  no  longer 
in  the  wilds  of  the  American  forest,  but  on  land  re- 
nowned through  all  ages,  and  rendered  sacred  by  recol- 
lections of  intellect,  art  and  religion.  Xow,  as  then,  a 
tyrant  empire  had  with  vain  boastings  poured  her 
legions  upon   a  devoted  land ;    now,  as  then,  the   op- 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  41 


pressed  few  forgetting  their  dissensions,  hiid  risen  to 
burst  their  chains  asunder;  and  now,  too,  as  then,  a 
great  nation,  the  generous  French,  were  rushing  with 
disciplined  battalions  to  aid  struggling,  expiring  hu- 
manity. It  was  certainly  humiliating  that  so  large  a 
portion  of  Europe  should  have  remained  unsympathiz- 
ing  spectators  of  the  contest.  On  the  part  of  an  Amer- 
ican, acquiescence  in  such  neutrality  would  have  been 
treason  against  nature.  Inspired  by  these  sentiments, 
I  was  hurrying  with  Avhat  speed  I  might,  to  offer 
my  services  to  the  Sardinian  Government,  and  to  ask 
the  privilege  of  serving  as  a  volunteer  in  her  armies — 
perhaps  a  foolish  errand  if  measured  by  the  ideas  of 
this  unromantic  century.  No  emotion  of  my  life  was 
ever  so  pure,  so  free  from  every  shade  of  conscientious 
doubt  or  selfish  consideration.  At  the  distance  of  four 
thousand  miles,  we  were  happily  ignorant  of  the  under- 
hand intrigues,  if  any  there  were,  which  so  frequently 
disgust  one  in  the  turmoil  of  politics.  I  saw  but  the 
spectacle  of  an  injured  people,  struggling  as  America 
had  done,  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  and  com- 
paratively barbarous  oppressor,  and  as  we  passed  bat- 


talion  after  battalion  of  brave  Freoch  slowly  ascending 
the  mountain,  I  felt  toward  them  all  the  fervor  of 
youth,  fired  by  the  grateful  traditions  of  eighty  years 
ago." — Spain  and  the  Spaniards. 

His  application  was  successful,  but  on  his  way  to  join 
the  army  he  was  met  by  the  news  of  the  peace  of  Villa 
Franca,  w^hich  of  course  put  an  end  to  the  purpose  of 
his  journey.  Thus  disappointed  he  devoted  a  few 
months  to  revisiting  Spain,  and  returned  to  South 
Carolina  towards  the  close  of  1859.  But  his  voyage 
was  not  without  fruit,  and  in  1860  he  printed  for  pri- 
vate circulation  among  his  friends,  "Spain  and  the 
Spaniards,"  a  volume  which  forms  the  only  memorial 
he  has  left  us  of  his  severe  studies,  his  varied  accom- 
plishments, his  high  aspirations.  This  book  is  admira- 
bly written.  The  country  and  the  people  whom  be 
described  had  for  him  a  romantic  charm,  and  his  enthu- 
siastic sympathy  with  their  history  and  character  gives 
to  his  descriptions  a  warmth  and  truthfulness  which 
a  colder  observation  could  never  have  imparted.  His 
thorough  knowledge  of  Spanish  history  and  his  famil- 
iarity with  the  language  taught  him  both  what  to  ob- 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  43 


serve  and  how  to  observe,  while  his  reflections  have  the 
breadth  and  vigor  and  freshness  which  in  the  study  of 
the  old  world  can  be  given  only  by  the  consciousness  of 
the  ever-living  connection  between  the  past  and  the 
present.  While  the  spirit  of  the  book  is  genuinely 
American,  especially  so  in  some  of  its  outspoken  preju- 
dices, and  very  liberal  in  its  political  coloring,  its  tone 
of  refined  and  accomplished  culture,  its  quick,  bright 
sketches  of  character,  its  love  of  nature,  its  picturesque 
description  of  national  habits  and  institutions  give  both 
variety  and  refinement  to  its  pages,  and  although  it 
scarcely  afforded  scope  for  the  exhibition  of  his  general 
ability,  it  will  I  am  confident,  if  ever  published,  be 
placed  in  the  front  rank  of  that  department  of  litera- 
ture. 

Pettigrew  returned  from  Europe  with  the  same  con- 
viction he  had  carried  away,  from  home,  that  every 
hour  was  bringing  nearer  the  unavoidable  conflict,  and 
he  had  not  been  slightly  influenced  in  his  desire  to  see 
large  and  active  service  abroad  by  the  persuasion  that 
all  he  could  learn  there  would  find  its  early  and  fitting 
use  here.     Thus  impressed,  he  had  not  only  before  his 


44  Memorial  of 


journey  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  military  science, 
so  far  as  the  best  books  in  the  various  modern  languages 
could  teach,  but  while  in  Paris  had  used  all  such  oppor- 
tunities as  his  favorable  introductions  and  his  avowed 
purpose  afforded  him.  Upon  his  return  he  devoted 
himself  with  his  usual  enthusiasm  to  the  improvement 
of  the  militia  of  the  city.  Elected  captain  of  a  rifle 
company,  he  endeavored  to  fashion  it  upon  the  Zouave 
model,  the  drill  eflSeiency  of  which  he  had  admired  in 
France.  The  novelty  as  well  as  the  success  of  his  ex- 
periment attracted  great  attention  and  he  was  soon 
elected  Colonel  of  the  First  Eifle  Eegiment,  the  best 
organization  of  volunteer  troops  in  the  State.  In  a 
very  little  while  his  own  energy  and  the  sj^irit  which 
he  infused  into  his  command  made  it  a  model  of  volun- 
teer organization.  But  he  did  more  than  this.  He 
not  only  perfected  their  discipline  and  organization,  but 
he  fostered  and  developed  in  his  command  the  convic- 
tion tbat  their  discipline  and  organization  had  a  pur- 
pose beyond  parade  display,  and  that  all  its  dignity 
sprang  from  the  great  duty  for  which  it  was  a  prepara- 
tion, and  the  hour  of  that  duty  was  fast  approaching. 


J.  Johnston  Peftigrew.  45 


That  event  occurred  which  for  more  than  one  genera- 
tion had  been  the  subject  of  household  talk  and  public 
discussion,  which  old   men  had  died  hoping,  and  young 
men  had  grown  up  expecting  to  see,  which  was  the  ex- 
pression of  the  prejudices  and  the  passions,  the  conflict- 
ing interests  and  the    contrary  convictions  of   a    half 
century  of  political  strife.     South  Carolina  seceded  from 
the  Union,  and  called  upon  her  children  to  rally  to  the 
support  of  the  only  government  they  had  ever  been 
taught  to  love  or  to   obey.     Before    the    negotiations 
which  the  State  initiated  with  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment immediately  upon  her  assumption  of  sovereign 
power  could  reach  their  formal  but  inevitable  conclu- 
sion, one  of  those  occurrences  which  the  history  of  the 
world  proves  always  Avill  happen  in  times  of  revolution 
to  baflae  the  intentions  and  plans  of  those  who  would 
control  them,  placed  the  issue  before  the  country  sharp 
and    sudden.      Major    Anderson,  in    command   of  the 
United    States   forces   in    Charleston    harbor,  without 
orders    from    Washington    suddenly    evacuated     Fort 
Moultrie,  secured   Fort   Sumter  under  cover  of  night, 
and   in  the    morning   had   occupied   a  position  which 


46  Memorial  of 


involved  the  whole  question  in  controversy  and  required 
for  its  peaceable  solution  the  abandonment  either  by 
the  United  States  or  the  State  of  the  rights  they  re- 
spectively claimed. 

It  would  be  idle  now  to  inquire  how  far  the  action  of 
Major  Anderson  hastened  hostilities.  It  is  sufficient  to 
say  here  that  the  State  of  South  Carolina  felt  bound  to 
meet  the  consequences,  and  to  secure  possession  of  the 
other  forts  commanding  the  harbor.  Colonel  Pettigrew, 
whose  command  had  immediately  tendered  their  ser- 
vices to  the  Executive,  was  ordered  to  occupy  Castle 
Pinckney,  and  shortly  after  was  transferred  to  Morris 
Island,  and  charged  with  the  preparation  necessary  at 
that  point  to  prevent  the  reinforcement  of  Fort  Sumter 
by  the  United  States  Government.  This  duty,  which 
required  not  only  the  engineering  knowledge  requisite 
for  the  erection  of  batteries,  but  the  combination  of  en- 
ergy and  tact  indispensable  to  the  discipline  and  train- 
ing of  troops  unaccustomed  to  the  discomfort  and  re- 
straint of  camp  life  and  real  service  was  discharged  by 
Colonel  Pettigrew  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive, and  during  his  command,  a  council  of  war  was 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew,  47 


seldom  held  of  which  he  was  not  a  member.  The  es- 
tablishment of  the  Confederacy  transferred  the  control 
of  military  operations  from  the  State  authorities,  and 
upon  the  arrival  of  General  Beauregard,  Colonel  Petti- 
grew was  removed  to  Sullivan's  Island,  where  he  re- 
mained until  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter,  the  charac- 
ter of  that  bombardment  excluding  the  infantry  arm  of 
the  service  from  any  active  participation  in  its  opera- 
tions. 

With  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  all  hopes  of  peace 
ended,  and  both  sections  addressed  themselves  earnestly 
to  the  work  before  them,  and  the  spirit  of  serious,  I 
might  say,  sorrowful  resolution  with  which  the  South 
entered  upon  the  struggle,  was  well  expressed  by  Col- 
onel Pettigrew,  who,  in  July,  1861,  received  a  stand  of 
colors  for  his  regiment  with  the  following  words: 

"  The  flag  of  the  old  republic  is  ours  no  more.  That 
noble  standard  which  has  so  often  waved  over  victorious 
fields ;  which  has  so  often  carried  hope  to  the  afflicted 
and  struggling  hearts  of  Europe;  which  has  so  often 
protected  us  in  distant  lands,  afar  from  home  and 
kindred,  now  threatens  us  with  destruction.     In  all  its 


48  Memorial  of 


former  renown  we  participated.  Southern  valor  bore  it 
to  its  proudest  triumphs,  and  oceans  of  Southern  blood 
have  watered  the  ground  beneath  it.  Let  us  lower  it 
with  honor,  and  lay  it  reverently  upon  the  earth." 

Of  General  Pettigrew's  military  career  from  this 
point  I  scarcely  feel  competent  to  speak.  At  the  time 
of  his  death  he  had  not  risen  to  that  rank  in  which  inde- 
pendent command  and  the  responsibilty  of  important 
operations,  give  historical  interest  to  the  conduct  of  the 
soldier,  and  therefore  in  what  I  say  I  will  refer  to  the 
events  of  his  military  life  rather  as  illustrations  of  his 
character  than  in  their  connection  with  the  history  of 
the  war.  And  even  here  I  consider  myself  fortunate 
that  I  am  able  to  use  the  language  of  one  who  was  his 
friend  and  his  companion ;  one  who,  when  he  speaks  of 
battles,  tells  what  he  has  seen — -when  he  describes  a  sol- 
dier, tells  what  he  has  been.  General  James  Conner,  in 
a  letter  written  to  a  friend,  soon  after  General  Petti- 
grew's death,  says ; 

'•  Immediately  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  prepara- 
tions for  war  were  vigorously  made  by  both  of  the  con- 
tending parties.     The  troops  which  had  been  embodied 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  49 


for  the  defence  of  Charleston,  and  who  had  been  in  the 
field  for  three   months,  were,  with  few  exceptions,  the 
only  military  organizations  of  the  State.     For  the  pro- 
secution of  the   war    beyond   the    limits  of  the  State, 
special  organizations  were  needed.     The  reputation  for 
military  ability,  whicli  General  Pettigrew  had  acquired, 
and  the  confidence  he  had  inspired  in  all  who  had  served 
with  or  under  him,  pointed  him  out  as  an  appropriate 
leader  under  whom   to  organize.     The   same  qualities, 
however,  had  already  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Legis- 
lature,  and  the   position    of  Adjutant-General    of   the 
State  was  tendered  to   him,   and  his   acceptance  of  it 
urged  under  the  belief  that  his  administrative  ability 
could  accomplish  more  good  in  organizing  the  forces  of  the 
State  than  by  restricting  himself  to  the  duties  of  a  single 
regiment.     The   position,  however,  was  not  acceptable 
to  him,  and    he    declined  it.     He  preferred  the  active 
duties  of  the  field,  and  at  the  request  of  General  Beau- 
regard, and  with  the  approval  of  the  Executive  of  the 
State,  he  proceeded  to  organize  a  rifle  regiment  for  the 
war,  of  which  he  was  to  be  colonel.     Companies  far  ex- 
ceeding the  number  permitted   were  rapidly  raised  and 


50  Memorial  of 


tendered  to  him;  his  selections  made,  his  field  and  staff 
officers  agreed  upon,  and  Major  Barker,  the  Junior  Field 
Officer,  dispatched  to  Montgomery,  the  then  seat  of  the 
Confederate  Government,  to  tender  the  regiment  to  the 
Secretary  of  \Yar,  and  receive  authority  to  muster  it 
into  service.  The  views  of  the  War  Department  at  this 
time  were,  not  to  receive  organized  regiments,  but  to 
receive  only  companies,  reserving  to  itself  the  organi- 
zation into  regiments,  and  the  selection  and  appointment 
of  field  officers.  This  mode  of  organization  was  not  in 
accordance  with  the  wishes  or  expectations  of  those  who 
constituted  the  regiment.  The  companies  had  been 
formed  and  organized  with  a  view  to  the  rifle  regiment, 
and  to  those  whom  they  had  understood  were  to  be  its 
field  officers;  and  the  projiosition  to  lay  aside  those 
under  whom  they  were  anxious  to  serve,  and  for  whom 
they  had  raised  and  organized  these  companies,  was  in 
the  highest  degree  distasteful  to  the  officers  of  the  regi- 
ment. Several  attempts  w^ere  made  to  change  the 
decision  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  but  without  effect, 
and  the  several  companies  composing  the  regiment 
being  unwilling  to  accept  officers   named  b}^  the  War 


J.  Johnston  Pettigreio.  51 


Department  and  unknown  to  them,  sought  and  obtained 
admission  into  other  organizations  then  in  process  of 
being  raised  in  the  State,  under  authority  direct  from 
the  War  Department.  The  company  which  I  had 
raised  for  the  rifle  regiment — the  Washington  Light 
Infantry  Volunteers — was  received  into  the  Hatnpton 
Legion. 

"  Colonel  Pettigrew  was  thus  without  command,  but 
his  ardent  spirit  would  not  permit  him  to  remain  a 
mere  spectator  of  the  strife,  and  soon  after  my  com- 
mand was  moved  to  Richmond,  he  wrote  me  requesting 
leave  to  join  my  company,  and  shortly  after  came  on. 
He  was  only  a  few  days  in  Richmond  when  he  received 
a  letter  from  the  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  inform- 
ing him  that  he  had  been  commissioned  as  Colonel  of 
the  Twelfth  North  Carolina.  The  next  day  he  started 
for  Raleigh  to  assume  command.  A  few  days  after,  the 
Legion  was  ordered  to  Manassas,  and  participated  in 
the  battle  of  the  21st  Julj',  and  well  do  I  remember  the 
earnestness  with  which  Pettigrew,  when  next  we  met, 
listened  to  our  narrative  of  the  battle,  and  the  great 
reo;ret  he  felt  at   having  so  narrowly  missed  participa- 


52  Memorial  of 


tion  in  the  glory  and  excitement  of  that  day's  triumph. 
During  the  winter  of  1861-62,  he  was  camped  at  Evans- 
port,  on  the  Potomac,  and  there,  as  at  Charleston,  his 
high  military  attainments,  his  quick  perception,  and 
unflinching,  untiring  devotion  to  duty,  rapidly  won  for 
him  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  all  who  surrounded 
him.  He  was  assigned  to  important  duties  requiring 
high  skill  both  as  engineer  and  artillery  officer.  These 
he  discharged  so  completely  to  the  satisfaction  of  those 
in  authority,  that  without  his  knowledge,  he  Avas  rec- 
ommended to  promotion  to  the  rank  of  brigadier.  The 
appointment  was  tendered  to  him.  To  the  surprise  of 
the  president  he  refused  it,  and  being  in  Richmond  at 
the  time,  he  waited  upon  the  president  to  state  to  him 
the  reasons  of  his  refusal.  The  principal  ground  upon 
which  he  based  his  non-acceptance  was  that  he  had 
never  been  under  fire,  never  handled  troops  in  action, 
and  his  conviction  was  firm  that  no  man  who  had  not 
been  actually  tried  in  battle  should  be  appointed  to  the 
rank  of  brigadier.  The  president  replied  with  a  smile 
that  the  responsibility  for  the  appointment  was  his,  that 
he  was  thoroughly  satisfied  with  Colonel  Pettigrew's 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  53 


qualifications  for  the  position  and  had  no  hesitation  in 
tendering  the  appointment,  and  urging  its  acceptance. 
The  presi(ient  was,  however,  met  b}^  a  firmness  of  pur- 
pose equal  to  his  own,  and  Colonel  Pettigrew  persist- 
ently refused  the  appointment  to  the  admiration  and 
somewhat  the  amusement  of  the  president,  who  re- 
marked that  he  wished  the  whole  country  could  have 
heard  the  conversation  which  had  taken  place  between 
them,  as  he  had  been  besieged  with  applications  for 
brigadierships  upon  every  conceivable  ground,  but  that 
this  was  the  first  instance  of  an  officer  refusing  promo- 
tion because  he  had  not  demonstrated  his  ability  to 
discharge  the  duties.  Colonel  Pettigrew  returned  to 
Fredericksburg  and  remained  there  for  a  few  days.  At 
the  expiration  of  that  time,  General  French,  his  brigade 
commander,  was  ordered  to  report  to  Wilmington  for 
duty,  and  Major-General  Holmes  commanding  the 
troops  in  and  around  Fredericksburg,  sent  for  Colonel 
Pettigrew  and  insisted  on  his  writing  to  the  War  De- 
partment, and  revoking  his  refusal  of  the  tendered 
commission.  For  a  long  while  Pettigrew  combated 
the  reasons  of  the  general  and  declined  to  accede  to  his 


54  Memorial  of 


request.  It  was  only  when  the  general  seriously  and 
earnestly  said — '  Colonel  Pettigrew,  it  is  important  to 
the  command  and  the  country  that  you  take  the  office, 
and  I  regard  it  as  your  duty  to  do  so ' — that  Pettigrew 
yielded  his  own  convictions  and  wrote  the  desired  let- 
ter. I  saw  him  a  day  or  two  afterwards  and  he  was 
even  then  chafing  at  having  given  up  his  own  ideas  of 
what  was  proper,  and  referring  to  some  experiences  we 
had  shared,  remarked  :  '  You  and  I  ought  to  know  by 
this  time  that  a  man's  own  convictions  are  the  surest 
guides  for  his  own  action.  He  ought  not  to  listen  to 
anything  else.'  I  laughed  at  his  earnestness  and  replied 
that  on  this  occasion  I  belonged  to  the  Holmes  faction, 
and  was  delighted  that  the  major-general  had  over-ruled 
him  into  accepting.  A  few  days  after,  the  army  was 
moved  to  Yorktown,  and  I  did  not  see  Pettigrew  again 
until  on  the  retreat  from  that  place,  when  we  met  for  a 
few  moments  at  Williamsburg.  We  met  subsequently 
for  a  moment  as  his  brigade  and  that  to  which  I  be- 
longed were  moving  together  into  the  battle  of  Seven 
Pines.  At  the  close  of  the  fight  I  learned  that  he  was 
known  to  be  captured  and  supposed  to  be  killed.     The 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  55 


next  time  I  saw  him  I  was  wounded  in  Eicbmond,  and 
he  had  just  returned  from  Fort  Deh\ware,  and  was  still 
unfit  for  duty  owing  to  the  wound  received  at  Seven 
Pines,  but  eager  to  be  in  the  field  again.  He  shortly 
after  returned  to  the  field  in  command  of  a  brigade 
near  Petersburg,  and  I  was  invalided  to  South  Caro- 
lina.    We  never  met  again. 

"  Of  his  military  abilities  I  need  hardly  speak.  They 
were  known  and  respected  by  the  whole  army.  Dis- 
tinguished as  he  was  in  the  pursuits  and  employments 
of  civil  life,  he  was  by  nature  essentially  a  soldier.  The 
life  military  and  everj'thing  connected  with  it,  even  to 
the  slightest  details  of  the  profession,  had  for  him  a 
charm  which  no  other  profession  yielded.  Possessing 
many  qualities,  eminently  fitting  him  for  command,  he 
possessed  that  rare  faculty  of  inspiring  confidence  in 
those  whom  he  commanded.  From  the  company  up  to 
the  division,  there  was  no  body  of  troops  whom  he  ever 
commanded,  even  for  a  short  time,  who  were  not  de- 
voted to  him,  and  ready  to  follow  him  regardless  of  all 
dangers.  He  infused  his  own  spirit  into  those  whom 
he  commanded,  he  shared  their  perils  and  privations, 


58  Memorial  of 


and  systematically  disregarding  bis  own  comfort,  he 
labored  for  theirs.  Firm  and  strict  as  a  discipHnarian, 
he  was  eminently  just.  His  impartiality  was  a  proverb. 
Doing  his  own  duty  fully  and  thoroughly,  he  exacted 
from  all  under  him  the  full  performance  of  theirs;  and 
the  knowledge  that  duty  had  to  be  performed,  and  that 
neglect  of  it  was  sure  ahke  of  detection  and  punish- 
ment, rendered  punishment  almost  unnecessary,  and 
made  everything  in  his  command  move  with  tbe  regu- 
larity and  precision  of  a  well  regulated  machine.  He 
watched  over  his  troops  most  anxiously.  He  regarded 
them  as  a  trust,  and  labored  for  them  faithfully,  and 
they  repaid  his  care  with  a  devotion  w4iich  I  have  never 
seen  equalled.  It  was  impossible  by  any  words  to  give 
a  faithful  description  of  the  confidence  he  inspired,  or 
the  enthusiasm  he  awakened  in  his  troops.  To  realize 
it,  one  must  have  lived  among  his  troops  and  heard  the 
recital  from  their  own  lijDS.  Throui^h  his  friendly  in- 
fluence 1  was  selected  to  command  his  regiment  shortly 
after  he  became  a  brigadier,  and  although  he  had  then 
been  separated  from  it  for  some  time,  his  influence  re- 
mained as  strong  as  ever.     They  loved  to  talk  of  him^ 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew. 


they  were  proud  of  having  served  under  him,  and  I  am 
sure  that  no  stronger  appeal  could  have  been  made  to 
these  men,  in  their  hour  of  battle,  than  to  bid  them 
remember  that  Pettigrew  still  looked  to  them  to  do 
their  duty. 

"Skilful,  fertile  in  experience,  full  of  resource,  bold, 
yet  with  quick  and  sound  judgment,  reckless  only  where 
he  was  personally  concerned,  and  inspiring  confidence 
and  enthusiasm  w^ierever  he  w^ent.  he  only  needed  time 
to  have  won  his  way  to  the  highest  military  distinc- 
tion." 

The  report  of  his  death,  to  which  General  Conner  re- 
fers, excited  the  universal  lamentation  of  the  country, 
and  he  enjoyed  the  unusual  privilege  of  hearing  w^hile 
he  lived  what  would  be  said  of  him  when  he  died.  As 
soon  as  he  was  sufficiently  recovered  from  the  effects  of 
his  w^ound  and  imprisonment,  he  resumed  the  command 
of  his  brigade,  although  the  exigencies  of  the  service 
had  transferred  his  old  regiment  to  another  command. 
His  efficiency  and  the  enthusiasm  which  his  reputation 
incited  in  his  native  State,  however,  soon  perfected  the 
discipline  of  the  new  organization  and  filled  its  ranks 


58  Memorial  of 


with  the  best  manhood  of  North  Caroliiui.  With  this 
command  he  joined  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  and  en- 
tered with  Lee  upon  the  Pennsylvania  campaign.  At 
the  battle  of  G-ettysburg,  the  first  great  engagement  in 
which  he  took  a  prominent  part,  he  was  in  command  of 
Heth's  division,  which,  under  General  Longstreet,  and 
in  conjunction  with  Pickett's,  attempted  the  fatal  and 
famous  advance  upon  Cemetery  Hill,  on  the  morning 
of  the  3d  July,  18(J3. 

"Thedistance,"  says  General  Petligrew's  aide-de-camp, 
Captain  Young,  "  over  which  we  had  to  advance  may 
be  estimated  when  I  state  that  the  fuses  for  the  shell 
used  by  the  artiller}^  stationed  immediately  in  our  front 
Avere  cut  for  one  and  a  quarter  milc^.  The  ground  over 
which  we  had  to  pass  was  perfectly  open,  and  numerous 
fences,  some  parallel  and  others  oblique  to  our  line  of 
battle,  were  formidable  impediments  in  our  way.  The 
position  of  the  enemy  was  all  he  could  desire.  From 
the  crest  on  which  he  was  entrenched,  the  hill  sloped 
gradually,  forming  a  natural  glacis,  and  the  configura- 
tion of  the  ground  was  such  that  when  the  left  of  our 
line  approached  his  works,  it  must  come  within  the  arc 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  59 


of  a  circle  from  which  a  direct,  oblique  and  enfilade  fire 
could  be  and  was  concentrated  upon  it."  All  that  hu- 
man courage  could  do  was  done.  The  heroic  battalions 
reached  the  enemies  lines,  but  only  to  be  hurled  back 
in  final  and  bloody  defeat.  G-eneral  Pettigrew  was  him- 
self painfully  wounded,  the  majority  of  his  staff  killed 
or  disabled,  while  of  the  other  officers,  Burgwy(|p  and 
Marshall,  McCreay  and  Iredell,  all  North  Carolinians, 
wrote  in  blood  their  testimony  that  with  unweaned  de- 
votion and  unbroken  spirit,  their  State  had  followed  the 
Confederate  banners  to  the  extremest  point  where  Lee 
had  planted  them.  The  noble  brigade  which,  on  the 
morning  of  the  1st  July,  mustered  three  thousand  men, 
numbered  on  the  morning  of  the  4th,  eight  hundred 
and  thirty-five.  Well  might  General  Lee  say  in  those 
simple  and  weighty  words,  which  will  make  history  for 
another  generation : 

"  The  conduct  of  the  troops  was  all  that  I  could  de- 
sire or  expect,  and  they  deserved  success  so  far  as  it  can 
be  deserved  by  heroic  valor  and  fortitude.  More  may 
have  been  required  of  them  than  they  were  able  to  per- 
form, but  my  admiration  of  their  noble  qualities  and 


60  Memorial  of 


my  confidence  in  their  ability  to  cope  successfully  with 
the  enemy,  has  suffered  no  abatement  from  this  issue  of 
protracted  and  sansjuinary  conflict." 

The  Confederate  army  fell  back  upon  Hagerstown 
and  the  Potomac  without  interference  from  the  enemy, 
crossing  that  river  partly  at  Williamsport  and  partly 
at  Falling  Waters.  Greneral  Longstreet's  corps,  of  Avbieh 
Heth's  division  formed  a  part,  crossed  at  the  latter 
place.  On  the  morning  of  the  14th  July  this  division, 
after  a  weary  and  exhausting  night's  march,  stopped 
for  rest  and  breakfast  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from 
the  bridge  at  Falling  Waters.  For  some  inexplicable 
reason  General  Heth  had  not  thrown  out  pickets,  and 
about  nine  o'clock  while  he.  General  Pettigrew  and 
several  other  officers  were  walking  towards  the  left 
of  the  division,  their  attention  was  attracted  by  a  small 
squad  of  cavalry  riding  out  of  a  wooded  valley  about  a 
mile  off.  Their  number  (about  twenty-five)  and  their 
neighborhood  misled  General  Heth  into  the  belief 
that  they  were  Confederate  troops,  and  before  the 
error  was  discovered,  they  had  reached  the  group  of 
officers   Avho    bad  remained    at    the    sj^ot  from  which 


'       Vj 


3  ■■  "u  / 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  61 

they  had  just  been  seen.  The  arms  of  the  soldiers 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  were  stacked,  the  men 
surprised,  there  was  a  brief  alarm,  an  obscure  and 
confused  skirmish,  a  few  scattered  shots,  and,  within 
sight  of  a  whole  division,  General  Pettigrew  was  mor- 
tally wounded  by  one  of  these  reckless  troopers,  who 
made  their  escape  as  raj^idly  and  safely  as  they  had 
made  their  attack.  He  was  removed  in  the  track  of 
the  army,  which  effected  its  crossing  about  one  o'clock 
of  the  same  day,  and  carried  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Boyd, 
half-way  between  Martinsburg  and  Winchester.  And 
there,  on  17th  July,  upon  the  soil  of  the  Old  Dominion, 
in  the  arms  of  that  noble  State  whose  pious  and  gentle 
care  had  soothed  and  sustained  the  dying  moments  of 
the  eldest-born  of  the  whole  South,  in  the  early  still- 
ness of  the  summer  morning,  he  peacefully  folded  his 
hands  from  battle  and  rested  with  God  ! 

Into  the  sacred  privacy  of  his  last  hours  I  dare  not 
intrude.  To  those  only  who  were  born  of  the  same 
mother,  does  such  communion  belong.  But  for  the  sake 
of  those  who  loved  him  so  well  in  this  life  that  they 
long  for  an  assurance  of  their  future  hope,  I  will  re- 


62  Memorial  of 


peat  the  words  of  the  Bishop  of  Louisiana,  who  was 
with  him :  "  In  a  ministry  of  near  thirty  years,  I  have 
never  witnessed  a  more  sublime  example  of  Christian 
resignation  and  hope  in  death." 

Such  was  his  life.  And  now  that  it  is  told,  it  is  mani- 
fest that  its  results — its  actual  achievements,  when 
summed  up,  as  they  can  bo  in  a  few  brief  sentences — 
fail  to  explain  the  strength  and  breadth  of  the  impres- 
sion he  made  upon  those  among  whom  that  life  w'as 
passed.  The  influence  was  in  himself,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity of  public  action  which  he  enjoyed,  only  widened 
the  circle  in  which  that  influence  was  felt.  He  had 
that  in  his  nature  which  made  men  love  him.  Although 
eager  in  the  pursuit  of  objects  which  he  desired,  and 
which  other  men  desired,  too ;  bold  and  out-spoken  in 
the  vindication  of  his  opinions,  and  placed  by  his  early 
success  where  it  was  difficult  not  to  excite  jealous 
prejudices,  yet  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  amongst  his 
cotemporaries,  those  whose  characters  and  abilities 
would  have  made  them  his  natural  and  most  formidable 
rivals,  he  found  his  truest  and  warmest  friends. 

He  had  that  in   his  nature  which  made  men  respect 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  63 


him.  His  learnings  his  accomplishments,  his  talents, 
were  all  under  the  control  of  his  moral  sense.  He  was 
a  man  who  desired  to  be,  and  not  to  seem.  His  am- 
bition was  large,  but  it  was  an  ambition  to  do  what  was 
worthy  to  be  done.  "  What  he  would  highly,  that  he 
would  holily ;"  and,  although  as  sti-ong  men  will  desire, 
he  desired  the  vantage-ground  of  place  and  power — the 
standpoint  wherefrora  to  use  the  lever  of  his  intellect, 
yet  his  life  was  instinct  with  the  consciousness  that. a 
great  end  can  never  be  compassed  by  low  means,  that 
nothing  is  worthy  the  ambition  of  a  true  man  which 
requires  the  sacrifice  of  personal  honor,  of  fidelity  to 
his  friends,  or  of  loyalty  to  his  convictions. 

He  was  essentially  an  earnest  man.  From  his  early 
youth  whatever  he  did  was  done  with  an  intense  pur- 
pose. As  his  experience  widened  and  his  mind  matured, 
the  purpose  was  changed,  but  the  intensity  was  con- 
stant. Those  who  knew  him  best  will,  I  think,  ao-ree 
with  me  that  this  earnestness  was  every  year  concen- 
trating upon  a  higher  purpose  and  proposing  to  itself  a 
loftier  aim,  that  the  restlessness  of  his  early  ambi- 
tion was  subsiding,  the  effbrt  of  his  intellect  growin^^ 


84  Memorial  of 


steadier,  and  that  it  needed  only  this  final  consecration 
to  an  unselfish  cause  to  perfect  the  nobleness  of  his 
character. 

When  I  think  of  him,  and  men  not  unlike  him,  and 
think  that  even  they  could  not  save  us ;  when  I  see 
that  the  cause  which  called  out  all  their  virtues  and 
employed  all  their  ability  has  been  permitted  to  sink  in 
utter  ruin  ;  when  I  find  that  the  great  principles  of 
constitutional  liberty,  the  pure  and  well-ordered  society, 
the  venerable  institutions  in  which  they  lived  and  for 
which  they  died,  have  been  allowed  to  perish  out  of  the 
land,  I  feel  as  if,  in  that  Southern  Cause,  there  must 
have  been  some  terrible  mistake.  But  when  I  look 
back  again  upon  such  lives  and  deaths;  when  I  see  the 
virtue  and  the  intellect  and  the  courage  which  were 
piled  high  in  exulting  sacrifice  for  this  very  cause,  I 
feel  sure  that,  unless  God  has  altered  the  principles  and 
motives  of  human  conduct,  we  were  not  wholly  wrong. 
I  feel  sure  that  whatever  may  be  the  future,  even  if  our 
children  are  wiser  than  we,  and  our  children's  children 
live  under  new  laws  and  amid  strange  institutions, 
History  will  vindicate  our  purpose,  while  she  explains 


J.  Johnston  Pettigrew.  65 


our  errors,  and,  from  generation  to  generation,  she  will 
bring  back  our  sons  to  the  graves  of  these  soldiers  of 
the  South,  and  tell  them— aye,  even  in  the  fulness  of  a 
i  prosperity  we  shall  not  see— This  is  holy  ground ;  it  is 
good  for  you  to  be  here ! 


